Adidas Tuukka Rask Jersey

A new general manager is in charge of making the picks in the NFL draft this year for the Green Bay Packers Adidas Tuukka Rask Jersey , who are stocked with new faces on the coaching staff.

So many changes this offseason and yet the Packers will have familiar priorities when the draft starts Thursday night.

Think defense, again.

The secondary could use a cornerback or versatile safety. The pass rush could use another athletic presence off the edge.

"There will be some different people sitting in some different chairs. But I think it's going to be exciting," GM Brian Gutekunst, who replaced the retired Ted Thompson in the offseason, said at the NFL combine.

"But what matters is building the board," Gutekunst said. "On draft day you kind of trust yourself, you watch it fall and then make the best decision you can."

There are a few holes to fill on a team that finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. With a healthy Aaron Rodgers back this fall, the Packers hope to regain their postseason swagger in 2018.

It makes this year's draft especially important for a team that normally doesn't pick so high in the first round. At No. 14, the Packers have a shot at selecting an impact starter on defense.

Damarious Randall, the team's first-round draft pick in 2015, was traded to Cleveland for backup quarterback DeShone Kizer, to shake up the cornerback position again.

Veterans Tramon Williams and Davon House came back on free-agent deals and figure to join Kevin King, a second-round selection in 2017, atop the cornerback depth chart.

But another young cornerback certainly won't hurt in a pass-happy league. Prospects such as Ohio State's Denzel Ward or Central Florida's Mike Hughes might be first-round options.

Or the Packers might look at safety after versatile veteran Morgan Burnett left as a free agent for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Another 2017 second-round pick, Josh Jones, seems poised to replace Burnett.

But another talented safety from the draft, such as Alabama's Minkah Fitzpatrick or Florida State's Derwin James, could give new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine more speed and valuable flexibility.

PASS RUSH

Clay Matthews, who will be 32 next month, hasn't eclipsed double-digit sacks since 2014, though he was asked to play middle linebacker during part of that time. Nick Perry had seven sacks after being limited to 12 games because of injury in 2017, his first after signing a contract extension. UTSA edge rusher Marcus Davenport could be a tempting first-round option with his explosiveness and potential.

CATCHING ON

Jordy Nelson is gone and Randall Cobb is entering the last year of his contract. Davante Adams is the new No. 1 receiver and under contract until 2021. Geronimo Allison, who has 35 catches and two touchdowns in his first two years in the league Colton Sissons Jersey , could earn more playing time. The Packers could target a receiver or two in the early rounds of the draft to replenish depth.

ON THE O-LINE

There are questions on the right side of the offensive line, enough so that it wouldn't be a surprise if Green Bay saw value in taking a top prospect early. Veteran Jahri Evans, who was solid in his one season at right guard, turns 35 this summer and remains a free agent. Right tackle Bryan Bulaga tore his right ACL last season, and top backups Jason Spriggs (knee) and Kyle Murphy (foot) are also coming back from injury.

HITS, MISSES AND BARGAINS

The Packers had a productive first couple rounds in 2014 with Thompson in charge, taking safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round and Adams in the second. The 2016 draft brought three defensive starters in lineman Kenny Clark in the first round, along with a pair of fourth-rounders in lineman Dean Lowry and inside linebacker Blake Martinez.

Cornerback Quinten Rollins, a second-round pick in 2015, has been slowed by injuries through his career. Kyler Fackrell, a third-round pick in 2016, hasn't produced enough to ease depth concerns at outside linebacker.

The Packers got two bargains on the offensive line after taking left tackle David Bakhtiari in the fourth round in 2013 and center Corey Linsley in the fifth round a year later. More recently, the 2017 draft brought value at running back with fourth-rounder Jamaal Williams and fifth-rounder Aaron Jones.

The Golden Knights’ gold-and-grey-on-black helmets are everywhere.

They’re on T-shirts and hats worn by mall patrons, on jerseys of moviegoers, on stuffed animals, on mugs and on bumper stickers deep in suburbia. Bars far from the city’s tourist-driven areas show the games on TV, and watch parties have become a regular activity.

The arena rocks when the expansion team that has taken the league by storm appears on its home ice. A city that for years longed for a major sports franchise has truly embraced the Knights.

”It’s so much different live than it is on TV. It’s a whole different experience,” said David Santangelo, a Las Vegas resident who is a season ticket holder and longtime hockey fan. ”People fall in love with it. So many people I talk to at work are saying that they didn’t know it was so exciting. People are really starting to learn about it now.”

Santangelo, who was wearing a Knights jersey, was among hundreds who attended a party Monday in downtown Las Vegas to watch Game 3 of the Knights’ second-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks. The Golden Knights have a 3-2 series lead after a 5-3 victory over San Jose on Friday night.

For years, questions were raised over whether the tourist-driven city with a long history of hosting big events could support a big league team night after night. Gambling and a relatively small market size steered major franchises elsewhere. Before the Knights dropped the puck, there were naysayers even though initial ticket demand was high.

Average game attendance at T-Mobile Arena is now 18 Steve Young Jersey ,042. Tourists and comped high-rollers have surely caught games. So have tennis greats Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, rapper Lil Jon, poker pro Daniel Negreanu and slugger Bryce Harper before baseball season started. But defying some of those early predictions, it’s been regular residents and their children who have filled the stands game after game.

The crowds bode well for the NFL’s Raiders, who are due to move to Sin City in 2020.

The Knights – who were 200-1 at many sports books to win the Stanley Cup before the season began – proudly declare themselves Vegas Born. Their success on the ice has certainly influenced attendance, but it may also have to do with the city’s desperate need for fellowship around the time the season opened.

The Knights’ home opener in October came only a few days after the city suffered the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The team retired jersey No. 58 during its final home game of the regular season to honor the victims. A banner with 58 stars was hoisted into the rafters. The victims’ names were also projected on the ice.

”I think because all the players are from different places and Las Vegas is a melting pot of people from different places, it’s just really brought community together to have our own team,” said fan Angel Ashby. ”This is a Vegas-born team. It isn’t from somewhere else.”

Ashby had rooted for the Colorado Avalanche, but got rid of the jersey when the Knights arrived. She and her friends rotate hosting watch parties.

The energy has existed at the arena from the beginning, but has progressively gotten louder with the success that followed. For the playoffs, the team has expanded the pregame festivities to include a huge knight’s helmet that is lowered from the rafters in front of the Vegas bench. The Golden Knights enter the ice through the front of the helmet.

Some players toss pucks to their young fans before the game and some children in attendance will get sticks from select players after every game. And the popularity has spilled over from T-Mobile Arena to City National Arena, the team’s practice facility. There, the Vegas Golden Knights Skating Academy has grown from less than 100 kids to nearly 1,000 seven months after its inception.

Todd Pollock, vice president of ticketing and suites, said he did not expect the level of support the team has experienced in its debut season and wondered what took so long for Las Vegas to get a major franchise. The team had planned a three-day campaign for season-ticket packages for next season, but the organization canceled after the first day due to an overwhelming response.

”What we’re seeing collectively this year absolutely, positively, I don’t think I could have scripted it any better than the way it’s currently playing out,” said Pollock, who worked in the same capacity with the Los Angeles Kings and the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.